GodReflection: Guardrails for Living
In the sense that the apostle John uses the term in his letters, I can’t remember coming across a false teacher in a church pulpit. Although, not everything I hear rings true.
I’ve heard sermons and classes where I don’t agree with what is taught. Most of those times it is because two people who honor the divinity of Jesus see differently the application of a Biblical text written in a context different from our own.
Some false teachers have Wall Street addresses. They teach that Jesus is not sufficient to fulfill my deepest needs. What I need is to drink from a bottle drawn from an ice chest on a beach. What I need for fulfillment is to look good.
Buy what they offer for life will be great they promise.
They market an array of goods to draw my attention from the all sufficiency of Jesus. Those goods and the experimentation with sin hold out the false hope of joy and fulfillment.
John begins with a reminder to first century Christians of an eternal truth that is applicable to me.
He puts in place my strongest and most important guardrail. Remember the real Jesus.
Who God says Jesus is and who the Son claims to be is of ultimate importance. I must take note.
With that guardrail in place gifted work and wholesome recreation is done to the glory of God.
His existence is from the beginning.
Jesus is so real that John saw him and touched him. He was the very Word of Life. He is Life Eternal who was with the Father and came to earth to live for a time in a human body as a man.
Through this God-man it is possible to live with both the Father and the Son. As a member of the God and Son fellowship, John assures me he found complete joy and invites all who want fulfillment to join with him in that fellowship.
By membership in the heavenly family we find ourselves cleansed from all sin by the blood Jesus spilled on the cross.
When I claim that gift for myself I immediately walk within the very light of God where there is no darkness at all. Jesus offers me his illuminated lifestyle.
As a bonus I’m given the fellowship of all cleansed people who enjoy the same Holy Light.
All of the above can only come my way if I face God in total humility by the admission of my identity as a sinner. Without looking to the cross my state is hopeless. Any defense of sin not being so bad in my life is to call God a liar.
The only way I can face God is as sinner who is no longer willfully on a hand to hand stroll with sin.
The false teachers of John’s day taught that it was possible to enjoy the red flashing lights of the Greek culture and have a taste of God on the side. John responds that any attempt to walk in darkness thinking that it does not offend God is a lie.
It is an attempt to live without God’s most precious gift—Jesus the Truth.
John describes it this way:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
From this point forward every guardrail John puts in place is dependent upon the first—remember Jesus is real.
See you next time as we meet around John’s second guardrail to live as Jesus lived I must Love My Siblings.
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells
A GodReflection on The Real Jesus.
God Reflection 